Friday, July 06, 2012

the polish chickens

The golden lace polish are wild when I open the lid they go berserk. They were hatched June 20, 2012 the white top black polish hatched May 2, 2012.

I spread seven dust in the hen houses to keep the mites in control this morning.

I call Polish the Afro chickens because of their top-knot crests. Many times their crests are a different color than the rest of their body as in the case of the most popular variety, White Crested Black. Polish are better known than the other crested breeds.

Any blue variety ordered from Purely Poultry may include chicks with black, blue or splash plumage patterns.

Temprament: Polish are active but can be quite tame birds for pets.

Special Care: The Polish crests attract lice and other external parasites, so be sure to dust regularly with Sevin dust.

Polish Chickens are the most popular of the crested breeds. These beautiful birds are distinguished by an explosive topknot of feathers, usually in a contrasting color to their body color, which accents their plumage. Though these are not the only crested Chickens, they are the best known of all crested breeds. Polish Chickens may be calmer than other chickens because their crest restricts vision much in the way a hood might. It is important to allow them plenty of space to prevent them from picking out each other's topknots. Polish Chickens are active, however, and because of their beautiful appearance they can be fun to watch!

Skin Color: White.

Characteristics: Polish are an unusual and beautiful breed. They have a crest (some also possess a beard and muffs), are small, tightly feathered birds, fairly active despite restricted vision due to their large "head gear." They need plenty of space to avoid damaging each other's crests by picking. Ice forming in their crests from drinking water can be a problem in cold weather. And sometimes their crests restrict vision and cause them to be easily frightened.

Production: non-sitting breed is a white egg layer.

Names: Known in England as the Poland. Crested Dutch Chicken Padua, Afro Chickens is what I like to call them. Royalty of Poultry

History: Polish is also one of the oldest crested breeds, being known as a pure breed as early as the sixteenth century. The Polish breed probably originated on the Continent, but nothing is truly known about its origins. Polish were brought from Asia in to which is now southern Russia by Mongols and other invading tribes under their rule. They were then brought in to Poland and kept in villages and by nobles and were distributed further in to western Europe by Germans who lived and worked in Poland, Germany, Holland, England and Italy's Padua city. Breed standardization was done in Holland, England and Germany and the name change took place in 1869 Germany, Dresden at a convention of Poultry breeders to Paduaner (Polish Padewski). During that time Poland had been partitioned out by war and was gone from the map. Polish breeders persisted in having the name changed back, although there are still breeds that are called Padewski. Thanks to Dutchman Arie Boland, Polish are found in many colors, which he helped to preserve.The Polish is a European breed of chicken known for its crest of feathers. The English language name of these birds is a misnomer, as they do not originate in the country of Poland. Instead, the oldest accounts of crested chickens comes from the Netherlands. Mentioned in literature as early as the sixteenth century, Polish Chickens are a very old breed. They were probably imported from Eastern Europe to England, where they became known as Poland Fowls. Continental Europeans often refer to these and to all crested breeds as Paduans or Padoues. The oldest reference found to date is the stone statue in the Vatican which bears a very close resemblance to a crested fowl. Another discovery was in a Roman archaeological dig in the south of England where a skull from a bird was discovered and was exactly the same as the skull on today's Poland breed. It therefore suggests that this breed did originate from this area and was imported into the U.K. by the Romans. This also suggests that the breed is possibly one of the oldest in existence today. These were brought to their wonderful point of development by European and English breeders as long ago as the mid 1800's.

2 comments:

I have been getting eggs from a little ole man at the community center right here but sometimes he only has a dozen and sometimes none at all and I am getting tired of walking over ther for nothing so I guess I will start buying them at the store again...

I do not have a hen sitting. Siggie climbed in the chicken tractor and she flew out. We got her back in the big pen. Siggie is not afraid of anything. I asked her why she got in the chicken tractor. She said that stupid hen was off the nest...so I was going to catch her and sit her on those eggs. I don't think she was sitting anyway...just sitting on the nest because it was in the shade. I threw all the eggs away. Will probably wait until cooler weather to try again.